to minde the miracles of Christ and born witnesse to his innocency rather then to set themselves forward in things beyond their reach and knowledge Philip de h Lib. 8. cap. 19. Commines telleth of two Franciscans who offered themselves to the fire to prove Savanorola to be an heretick and not to have had revelations divine and an other Frier a Jacobin presented himself also to the fire to uphold Savanorola though Savanorola did not then expose himself to that purgation by fire Which intendments of theirs seem rather to be the fruits of evil then of Christian fortitude For i Mater martyri est fides Catholica in qua illustres Athletae sanguine suo subscripserunt The mother of martyrdome is the Catholick faith to which those famous champions have subscribed with their bloud saith Aquin out of Maximus But those bravadoes of the Friers savoured of the transalpine and cisalpine factions some inclining to the French king with his adherents the other to the Pope and Venetians and their partakers Some drew death upon them when they needed not in the Primitive Church and the holy Fathers and Councels have disliked them for it The Elibertine Councel chap. 60. k Si quis idola fregerit ibidem fuerit occisus quia in Evangelio non est scriptum neque invenitur ab Apostolis unquam factum placuit in uumerum eum non recipi martyrum If any one break idols and be killed in the act we think it not fit that he be received into the number of martyrs because for his so doing he had neither warrant of Scripture nor example of the Apostles The Cicumcellions thrust themselves into the mouth of dangers ambitious of martyrdome to that height of infatuation that if no body would kill them they would murder and massacre themselves There were also certain women who to keep their chastity hastened their own deaths Sophconia killed her self lest the Emperour Maximinus should abuse her saith Eusebius Pelagia flung her self headlong into a river lest a souldier should violate her Such things ought not to be done and are sinfull and unlawfull to be done And yet because the Church hath accounted them martyrs we must conclude that the Church did think they had divine inspirations directly animating them to that course as Samson had in the Old Testament l Cùm Deus jubet séque jubere siue ullis ambagibus intimat quis obedientiam in erimen vocet When God commands and plainly intimates that it is his command who can blame him that obeyeth saith m De Civit. 1.26 S. Augustine Aquinas 2.2 Quaest 124. Artic. 1. in the third objection hath these words n Non est laudabile quòd aliquis martyrio se ingerat sed magìs videtur esse praesumptuosum periculosum It is not commendable for a man to offer himself to martyrdome but seems rather to be presumptuous and dangerous And in the answer he intimateth That a man ought not to seek death and saith expresly o Non debet homo occasionem dare alteri injustè agendi sed si alius injustè egerit ipse moderatè tolerare debet A man ought not to give occasion of doing unjustly but if another do unjustly he ought to endure it patiently The third and last sort of learned men in a Church and State full of errours are thus qualified They are pious towards God charitable towards men zealous according to their knowledge knowing so much as they can well learn mourners for sick and dead in Sion signing their cheeks with teares for the backsliding of the people having cornea genua knees hardned like horn by their frequent bendings at prayers that God would shew mercy to the misguided singing to God in their hearts when danger stoppeth their mouths not petulant or immodest against the Magistrates no prompt proterve undertakers no railers censurers or rash damners of others no factionists or disturbers of Commonweals avoiding the storms of persecution so farre as conveniently and conscionably they may keeping the unity of truth as much as is possible in the bond of peace thus farre flexible and pliable that they would willingly exchange any old errour if such be setled in them for apparent truth thus farre constant and irremoveable that they preferre the naked truth above their lives and can in all humblenesse and patience write the confession of their faith with their own bloud Such a life may I live such a death may I die greater glory then such shall have I desire not This is the true character of a martyr so perfect as usually flesh and bloud affords The last point concerneth unlearned men who live in a defiled Church Shall these be ruled by their Pastours leaving the dictates of their own consciences unpractised unbeleeved I answer There is not the simplest of the people to whom I will denie a judgement of discretion which he is bound to follow even unto death according to his conscience And among the unlearned there are some of excellent wits quick capacities and some endowments both of nature and grace surpassing divers learned men Yet let every one of these take this advice from me let them learn to be Christi-formes conformable to Christ which is a point that the godly and learned Cardinall Cusanus often and excellently inculcateth and let them labour to be every way equall to that famous martyr whom immediatly before I characterized and described By how much the lesse they have of knowledge let them have the more of humilitie and conformablenesse Lastly let them ponder how mercifull the Lord is to such as sinne of ignorance and on the contrarie that not onely divers of the unlearned but such as have had a fair competency of knowledge have been transported with self-self-love and treading out paths of singularity have runne headlong into damnation Witnesse divers Arians burnt in the dayes of Queen Elisabeth witnesse Hacket seduced by the Devil under a shew of long extemporary prayers and extraordinary holinesse till at the end he grew blasphemous and in the heat of it died Let him think of Sir John Oldcastle who intimated not onely a possibility but a likelihood of his rising again the third day after his hanging and burning if Stows chronicles had sufficient ground to write to that effect If I should repeat the like monsters in other Churches and Commonwealths I might much more enlarge this discourse which is too long already I conclude The simple unlearned good man who is bound up in invincible ignorance and is misled by his Pastours to whose guidance he hath subjected his conscience is lesse sinfull by many degrees then he who casteth himself violently singularly and proudly into the same errours or as bad And if it be dangerous to take from the people their discerning power in any cause as some imagine let them ponder whether it be not more dangerous to let every one of them to runne loose like the
witlesse positions of Jovinian viz. * Omnia membra aequaliter diligimus nec oculum praeponimus digite nec digitum auriculae We love equally all our members neither do we preferre the eye before the finger nor the singer before the eare by which he would inferre a parilitie of sinnes besides what S. Hierom excellently answereth I can not chuse but oppose what Moses saith Deuteron 32.10 God kept the Israelites as the apple of his eye it being more guarded with the double coverlids of skins and hairs and more curiously then any other outward part which proverbiall similitude being also taken up both by David Psal 17.8 and by the Prophet Zecharie 2.8 significantly intimateth that one part of the body is more tender to us then any other Neither needed there such exact retaliation as is required Exod. 21.24 Eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for foot if all members were of like worth for a tooth might have been pluckt out for an eye and the foot might have stood for the hand Yea whatsoever Jovinian opineth or rather raveth Dives being in torment had more regard to the cooling of his tongue Luk. 16.24 then to the tip of his eare Where sinne is there is punishment also saith S. Chrysostom and Dives his tongue spake many proud things saith he and Dives was full of loquacitie as the Interlineary Glosse observeth even from his very speech to Abraham and perchance his tongue was most tortured as having been most delighted and addulced with his daily delicious fare If any of Zeno or Jovinian his partisans will not beleeve that one bodily member is better then an other I could wish it might be beaten into them and that they might endure sound raps or blows on their heads which any other man yea naturall fools by naturall instinct would rather beare off upon the arms as objecting unto danger the member of lesse worth to save and defend the part more principall which hourely experience ratifieth I passe by all other his objections because I have stood too long on this and I come to the main Question Whether all sinnes are equall The answer is plainly negative Reasons are these First diversitie of sacrifices prove the inequalitie of offences the greater offence being usually expiated with the most costly sacrifice The sinne of the Priest was in the estimate of God as the sinne of the whole congregation and the offering of his sinne was a young bullock without blemish Levit. 4.3 If a Magistrate sinned he was to offer a kid of the goats a male without blemish vers 23. If an ordinarie man offended a female served the turn vers 28. and 32. whether it were of goats or lambes Where the best greatest and costliest of oblations doth not prove that the estate or the person of the Priest was better and more noble then the estate or person of the King or supreme Civill Magistrate which the Papists impertinently would prove from thence but the Priests greater sacrifice evinceth his sinne to be greater by reason of his greater knowledge For the Priests lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the Law at his mouth for he is the Messenger of the Lord of hosts Malachi 2.7 A second Reason may be this Greater punishments both criminall and capitall are ordained by the Law for some people more then for others But this can not be justly appointed unlesse there be degrees of sinne Therefore sinnes are not equall Concerning the Major view it evinced in these instances He that stealeth a man shall die Exod. 21.16 If he steal an ox or a sheep he shall restore five oxen for anox and foure sheep for a sheep Exod. 22.1 He that kills a man unwillingly shall be protected Exod. 21.13 if willingly the very Sanctuarie at the horns of the Altar shall not save him he shall die vers 14. The adulterie of common people was punished with common death Levit. 20.10 But the daughter of any Priest if she profane her self by playing the whore she profaneth her father she shall be burnt with fire Levit. 21.9 that is she shall be burnt alive The Minor is proved because God is just and rewardeth every man according to his works Revel 22.12 Thirdly the Scripture saith some are more wicked then others Jerem. 3.11 The back-sliding Israel hath justified her self more then treacherous Judah Aholibah was more corrupt in her inordinate love then Aholah Ezek. 23.11 And some shal have sorer punishment then others Heb. 10.29 There is a sin remissible a sin irremissible Matth. 12.31 Tyre and Sidon were more inclining to repentance then Chorazin and Bethsaida Matth. 11.21 Accordingly It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom then for them vers 24. There are some sinnes of infirmitie some of presumption and great transgressions Psal 19.13 Reward Babylon even as she rewarded you and double unto her double according to her works in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double How much she hath glorified her self and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her Revel 18.6 7. Not double asmuch as she hath deserved that were injustice but double asmuch as others drink of the wrath of God The proselyte of the Pharisees is twofold more the childe of hell then themselves Matth. 23.15 and some shall receive greater damnation vers 14. Genes 4.15 Vengeance shall be taken seven-fold on him who slayeth Cain Not seven-fold more then such a deed as murder deserveth but seven-fold more then is taken on some other men perchance seven-fold more then was taken on Cain himself For though it be a greater sinne to kill an innocent then a bloud-guilty wretch or murderer and more offensive to slay a brother then one of lesse kindred or acquaintance which may seem to be the case between Cain and Abel on the one side and Cain and his murderer on the other side yet if we consider that God after an especiall manner forbad any man to kill Cain that God ordained life as a punishment to Cain that to kill Cain had been a courtesie saith Hierom that Cain was to live to be a terrifying example to all murderers Lastly if we remember that to deterre all men from the murder of Cain God set a notorious mark upon him such a oneas never any untill this day had the like by reason of the extraordinarines thereof whether it were a brand or stamp in his forehead or that the earth quaked under him wheresoever he went or a preternaturall and unusuall shaking of his head or dreadfull tremors or convulsions over all his body of which the particular is as uncertain as the generall can not be doubted of namely that unto his terrors of conscience and a vagrant unsetled minde some outward evident mark was annexed distinguishing him from other men and in a sort forbidding any to murder him I say he that now should have killed Cain might justly seven-fold deserve Cains punishment and an other
poena imò si ipse damnatus fuisset pro illo peccato non fuisset itá graviter punitus pro isto peccato sicut multi alii The greatest punishment was not due to Adams sinne yea if he had been damned himself for that sinne he had not been so grievously punished for it as many others The ancient Fathers did not so lightly prize the first sinne of Adam Augustine saith * Tam leve praeceptum ad observandum tam breve ad memoriâ retinendum tantò majore injustitiâ violatum est quantò faciliori possit observantiâ custodiri De Civit. 14.12 A Precept so light for keeping so short for remembring was broken by so much greater injustice by how much more easily it might have been kept And though Scotus holdeth it did consist in immoderate love and friendship to his wife yet I say his uxoriousnesse was but a branch a piece a quarter a rafter of that beam a part a member of that body of sinne * Tert. Cont. Marcion lib. 2. Tertull. doubts not to call Adams sinne Heresie and Adam a very rude Heretick Ambrose on Rom. 5.14 * Peccatum Adae non longè est ab idololatria Adams sinne is not farre from idolatrie And in his 33. Epistle to his sister Marcellina he findes infidelitie in Adam for not beleeving in Gods word Augustine in his Enchirid. chap. 45. imputes unto him Pride Sacriledge for it was sacrilegious pride to impropriate usurp the fruit separated from common use He was a murderer destroying himself all mankinde guiltie he was of spirituall fornication committed with the Serpent He may be further charged for felony in stealing the fruit which was not his Rupertus on Genes 2.39 saith Ingratitude was his first sinne He fell by covetousnes saith Augustine for God could not suffice him and having much more then he needed yet he would need more then he had Any one may blot him with curiositie for seeking to know what did him hurt His gluttony was manifest in loosing the reins to his beastly appetite His want of naturall affection toward his posteritie by him decaying is justly blameable Brentius hath one newfangle on John 8 That Adams sinne was rebellion or defection because he would not be subject to Christ He might rather have accused him for contempt of his Creator for his folly in venturing the losse of heaven for an apple for his credulity in beleeving Satan before God The Apostle chargeth him with disobedience Rom. 5.19 Bellarmine saith * Actu primus superbiae est â—olle subjici imperio praeceptis alterius quae proprie dicitur iâ—nbedientia Bell. De Amiss Gratiae 3.4 The first act of pride is to refuse to be subject to the command and precepts of another which properly is called disobedience as contrarily the first of humility is to be subject to another But Scotus doth better set down the order of the acts of our will * Est in communi duplex actus voluntatis VELLE NOLLE omne nolle praesupponit aliquod velle nullum nolle est primus actus deordinatus voluntatis quia non posset habere nolle nist respectu vel in virtute alicujus velle Scot. iâ—â— 2. Sent. dist 6. quaest 2. There is commonly a double act of the will LIKING and DISLIKING and every disliking presupposeth some liking and no disliking is the first inordinate act of the will because it could not have a disliking but in regard or by vertue of some liking In this I preferre Scotus before Bellarmine and Estius because the first act of pride or disobedience is self-complacencie from whence issueth the dislike or nolle of subjection as in humilitie the first act is Velle placere alteri whence ariseth the groundwork of obedience Secondly Augustine saith * In occulto mali esse coeperunt Aug. De Civit 14.13 They began in secret to be evil the ill will preceded the ill work self-love was the bait the Devil could not have caught Adam * Nisi jam illo sibi placere coepisset unles he had begun alreadie to be self pleased they were tickled with those words YE SHALLBE LIKE GODS Gen. 3.5 From whence I marvel Bellarmine observed not that Velle sibi placere is the first step of pride and therefore the Nolle subjici is the second act or act concomitant Thirdly * Bellarm ibid. cap. 5. Bellarmine himself interfeering saith The pride of our parents began not from this act I VVILL NOT BE UNDER THE POVVER OF GOD but after the hearing of these words YE SHALL BE LIKE GODS they began to consider within themselves it was a goodly thing not to depend of an other and at the same time they began to be delighted with their own power and to desire it and vehemently to please themselves Here he maketh three or foure acts to beginne together and maketh some ill act or acts precede this I will not be under the power of God Lastly * Bell. De Amiss Gratiae 3.9 Bellarmine hath it thus * Primus actus malus in peccato viri superbia fuit quâ in sua potiùs essc quà m in Dei potestate dilexit The first ill act in the sinne of the man was pride by which he loved to be in his own power rather then in Gods And he citeth Augustine in Enchirid. chap. 45. Therefore the beginning of Adams iniquitie consisted in a VELLE rather then in a NOLLE Now though Scotus his Discourse and Philosophie sideth thus farre with truth that an evil Nolle necessarily presupposeth an evil Velle which is expressely against the opinion of Bellarmine and Estius yet it crawleth on lamely towards * Scot. Dist 22. Scotus his conclusion That Adam did first sinne in inordinate love of friendship towards his wife for I will place in Adam another Velle a former Velle a malum Velle and a pejus Velle before his uxoriousnesse Augustine in his 21 Sermon upon Psal 118. which we account the 119 Psal saith thus * Quòd homo suuâ— esse voluit id est inobedientiae primum maximum malum That man would be his own that is the first and greatest evil of disobedience And * De Civit. 14.13 dâ— Gen. ad lit 8.14 elsewhere he takes pride and disobedience for all one Again * Homo clatus superbiâ suasioni Serpentis obediens praecepta Dei contempsit Ep. st Ad Orosium Manbeing lift up with pride obeying the persuasion of the Serpent despised Gods precepts And * Praecedit in voluntate hominis appetitus quidam propriae potestatis vt fiat inobediens per superbiam De peccat Meriâ— Rem 2.19 In the will of man there goes before some desire of his own power to be made disobedient through pride Eves pride out of doubt arose from those words Genes 3.5 Your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods Where the hint was given to the
Velle before the Nolle and the first motion was to the unlawfull love of himself Now what the Serpent said to Eve questionlesse she related to Adam And her pride also might first arise from the said fountain and his uxoriousnesse followed thereupon and the immoderate love of himself was before the immoderate love unto his wife I say questionles because it is both true in it self and others yeeld unto it and * Aug. De Gen. ad â—t 11.34 S. Augustine observeth it What Adam received from God he told to Eve what Eve heard from Satan she told to Adam To conclude * De Civit. 14.13 Augustine saith Adam and Eve were first turned from God to please themselves and thence and after that to grow cold and dull that she either beleeved the Serpent or he preferd his wives will before the will of God Where he maketh both Adams and Eves sinne to be the same inordinate love to themselves and this is against Scotus Prosper in the 358 Sentence picked out of Augustine saith concerning Adam * Primum animae rationalis vitium est voluntas ea faciendi quae vetat summa intima veritas The first vice of the reasonable soul is the will of doing those things which the supreme and most intimate truth forbids Neither hath Scotus his argutation rather then argumentation his usuall subtiltie in it * Duplexest Velle aut est Velle aliquid amore amicitiae qui est propter se vel propter amatum velamore commodi qui est propter aliud Primum peccatum Adae non fuit ex immoderato amore sui sicut fuit primum peccatum Angeli nec potuit esse quia Angelus intelligit seprimò per suam essentiam homo intelligit alia priùs quà m se There is a twofold will either that will by which one desires a thing with the love of friendship which is for himself or for the thing loved or that will by which one desires a thing with the love of profit which is for another The first sinne of Adam was not out of an immoderate love of himself as the first sinne of Angels neither could be because the Angels know themselves first by their own essence but man knowes other things before himself For did not Adam know himself ere he knew Eve or Angels or hath it any necessarie consequence if he knew her first that therefore he must love her content first rather then please himself Yea if he had a desire to please her might not this arise out of a desire to please himself Lastly did the Angels and Eve sinne out of an immoderate desire of love toward themselves Then how saith Scotus that Adams first sinne neither was nor could be an immoderate and inordinate love of himself What was in Eve could and might have been and was in Adam The discourse of Aquinas in this point seemes more agreeable to Scripture and Fathers then that of Scotus And this it is That unto one sinne many motions do concurre amongst which that is to be accounted the first sinne in which first of all inordination deviation disorder or aberration from the Law is found Now it is apparent that exorbitancy or deordination is sooner in the inward motion of the soul then it is in the bodie and among the interiour motions of the soul the appetite is first moved toward the end it self then toward the means leading toward the end and therefore there was the first sinne of Adam where was the first desire of an unlawfull and disordered end The summe is Man desired an illicit seeming spirituall good namely to subsist of himself as God doth Which first act or motion of pride or inward disobedience being all one with the first inclination to break the Law of God and to eat the forbidden fruit and being accompanied with that chain of other evill motions actions before mentioned was consummated by the outward disobedience in the orall eating the food inhibited And the time was so short between the sinfull motus primo-primus in the soul and the various continued difformitie of other ebullitions which were coherent and bound up in that unhappie knot of outward disobedience that we may safely say it was one sinne aggregativè and every particular evill thought act or motion from his fare-well given unto innocency unto his plain down-fall from the last of his inward obedience unto his first outward disobedience compleat and ended was a parcell or branch of that one great sinne which was against that Law divine Genes 2.17 As our Saviour saith Matth. 5.28 Whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adulterie with her already in his heart So so soon as ever Adam looked on the apple to lust after it the first inward motion tending to this lust of pride or disobedience was averse from the Law though the externall trespasse made the sinne to be full and the breach to be palpable and evident And as it is but one consummate adulterie though divers evil thoughts multae morosae cogitationes many wilde motions concurre unto it so may Adams sinne be said to be but one though consisting of divers parts and branches from the primative spirituall inclination of aversion to the hindmost bodily formalitie or coÌ„summation of his disobedience Est Dist 22 Paragr 1. Estius hath these arguments to evidence that pride which is unseparably annexed to disobedience was the first sinne of man First our parents Adam and Eve were first tempted with the sinne of pride by these words Ye shall be like Gods therefore by that they fell first Secondly the Devil would draw man to perdition by the same sinne by which he fell But he fell by pride 1 Tim. 3.6 Lastly Christ by humilitie and obedience recovered us therefore Adam by pride and disobedience hurt us And this is Augustines reason De Civit. 14.13 If any man desire more curiosities trenching upon this point let him consult with Doctor Estius in the place above cited who hath handled such things apertissimè satiatissimè most plainly and fully as Augustine said of Ambrose against Julian the Pelagian And now at length I am come to that second position which I resolved to unfold and handle in giving answer unto the first Question How and why death was appointed unto us The first part of the answer is already handled here I considered originall sinne principally as it was acted by Adam That Adam for sinne was appointed to die The second now followeth towit Adams sinne was propagated to us and so by just consequent We shall die for this sinne And first concerning the propagation of his sinne of originall sinne as it was an emanation from Adam and as it lodgeth and abideth in us ALmightie and most Gracious Father grant unto us that we which fell by pride may be humilitie and obedience be raised up through Jesus Christ our onely Advocate and Redeemer Amen CHAP. V. 1. Originall sinne
fail me not in S. Augustine The personall offences or holinesse of parents are not communicated to their children Again they object that they confirm this by experience These are words of winde and nothing else That wicked ones beget often children like to them who denieth That their children have their fathers personall sinnes transmitted is the begging of the question Yea but they prove it by examples of Scripture How or where By the place Exod. 20.5 I visit the sinnes of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me I answer He doth not say I transmit or communicate sinnes which is our onely question Even Illyricus himself among all his expositions of visitare hath none for communicare propagure transfundere transferre and particularly of this place of Exodus he saith f Visitans iniquitatem patrum id est puniens posteros ob majorum suorum enormia delicta Visiting the iniquitie of the fathers that is punishing the posteritie for the enormious sinnes of their ancestours Yet if to visit had been to propagate actuall sinnes it had been his best proof That the substance of the soul is corrupt by originall sinne and hath in it the image of Satan They alledge S. August who saith it is probable by that place of Exodus The words of S. August are these in the place by them cited g Parentum quoq peccatis parvulos obugari non solùm primorum hominum sedetiam suorum de quibus ipsi nati sunt non improbabiliter dicitur It is not improbably said that children are liable to the sinnes of their parents not onely of their first parents but also those of whom they are immediately born And at the end of that chapter h In illo uno quod in omnes homines pertransiit atque tam magnum est ut in â—o mutaretur converteretur in necessitatem mortis humana natura reperiuntur plura peccata alia parentum quae etsi non possunt mutare naturam reatu tamen obligant filios In that one sinne which passed over to all men and is so great that in it humane nature was changed and turned to a necessitie of death more sinnes are found and other of parents which albeit they change not our nature yet by their guilt they binde children where he makes an apparent distinction between that one sinne which changed our nature and was propagated unto us and those other personall sinnes of our fathers which change not our nature but binde us over unto punishment for that is his meaning of reatu obligant He doth no where say such sinnes are communicated unto us or that they binde us with the guilt of offence but he is to be understood of the guilt of punishment And so Bellarmine expounds him De amission grat statu peccati 4.18 Indeed he doth it somewhat timerously towards the beginning of the chapter with a i Fortasse non de contagione culpae sed de communicatione poenae locuti sunt Augustinus perchance But he is more positive and fully assertive at the latter end of the same chapter that Augustine and the Fathers spake onely of the communication of punishment which Bellarmine proveth because they instance in Exod. 20.5 which hath apparent reference to punishment and indeed so the word visit is most-wise used in Scripture viz. for to punish and sometimes in love mercy grace and goodnesse to visit but never is used for the communicating or propagating trajecting or transmitting of sinnes Nay k Greg. Mor. 15.22 Gregorie goeth further as he is cited by Bellarmine teaching that the place of Exodus is to be understood of those children who imitate the sinnes of their parents and so the Chaldee Paraphrase hath it saith Vatablus Lastly to cleare this truth that Augustine in that place meant onely the binding over unto punishment see his own words Chap. 47. which I marvel that Bellarmine passeth over l Sed de peccatis aliorum parentum quibus ab ipso Adam usque ad patrem suum progeneratoribus suis quisque succedit non immeritò disceptari potest utrùm â—mnium malis actibus multiplicatis delictis originalibus qui uascitur implìcetur ut tantò pejùs quantò posteriùs quisque nascatur Aâ— propterea Deus in tertiam quartam generationem de peccatis câ—rum posteris comminâ—â—ur quia iram suam quantum ad progenitorum suorum culpas non extendit ulteriùs moderatione miserationis suae nè illi quibus regenerationis gratia non confertur nimiâ sarcinâ in ipsa sua aeterna damnatione premerentur si cogerentur ab initio generis humeni omniuÌ„ praecedentium parentum suorum originaliter peccata contrabere poenas pro iis debitas pendere An aliud aliquid de re tanta in Scripturis sanâ—â—is diligentiùs perscrutatis tractatis vakat vel non valeat reperiri temerè non audeo affirmare But touching the sinnes of other parents by which every one from Adam himself to his own father succeeds his ancestours it may well be disputed Whether he that is born be involved in the evil acts and multiplied original sinnes of all so that how much the later any man is born so much the worse Or whether God doth therefore threaten the posterity unto the third and fourth generation for their parents sinnes because through his mercifull moderation he extends his wrath no further for the faults of progenitours lest they to whom the grace of regeneration is not given should be pressed with too great a burden in their eternall damnation if they were forced to contract the original sinnes of all their forefathers from the beginning of mankinde and to undergo the punishments due to them Or whether some thing else concerning so weighty a matter may be found in the holy Scriptures diligently searched and perused I dare not rashly affirm You have the whole chapter word for word out of S. Augustine In which observe First the adversative particle Sed distinguishing the question from the other which also Erasmus in the margin hath thus diversified comprising the meaning of the 46 chapter in these words m Peccâ—â—is parentum obligari filios That the children are bound by the sinnes of their parents and of the 47 chapter n Quousque majorum peccata prorogcutur non temerè desiniendum We ought not rashly to determine how farre the sinnes of ancestours be extended Secondly in the former chapter he said exactly o Non improbabiliter dicitur parentum peccatis parvulos obligari It is not improbably said that infants are bound by the sinnes of their parents He changeth the phrase in the latter p Non immeritò disceptari potest Non audeo temerè affirmare It may well be disputed and I dare not rashly affirm Thirdly his phrases in the former chapter are not so distinct as in the latter where he mentioneth both the
together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus Ephes 2.5 6. Our conversation is in heaven Philip. 3.20 From which positive proofs and doctrine that Christ stood in our stead and that almost all if not all his actions and passions as he was the Mediatour between God and man were representative of us let us descend to the comparative and shew that Christ hath done and will do more good unto us then Adam hath done harm Which point I have more enlarged in my Sermon at the re-admitting into our Church of a penitent Christian from Turcisme being one of the two intituled A return from Argier where these five reasons are enlarged First that Adam conveyed to us onely one sinne but Christ giveth diversities of grace and many vertues which Adam and his posterity should never have had as patience virginity repentance compassion fraternall correction martyrdom Secondly Adams sinne was the sinne of a meer man onely but the Sonne of God merited for us Thirdly by Adams offence we are likened to beasts by the grace of Christ our nature is exalted above all Angels Fourthly Adams disobedience could not infect Christ Christs merit cleansed Adam saving his soul and body Fifthly as by the first Adam goodnes was destroyed so by the second Adam greater goodnes is restored and all punishments yea all our own sinnes turned to our further good To which I will annex these things following By Adams sinne we were easily separated from God Satan the woman and an apple were the onely means But I am perswaded saith the Apostle Rom. 8.38 that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God Again Rom. 5.13 c. the Apostle seemeth to divide the whole of time in this world into three parts under three laws the law of Nature of Moses of Christ In the first section of time sinne was in the world Neverthelesse death reigned from Adam to Moses saith the Apostle In the law of Moses though death was in the world yet sinne chiefly reigned and the rather for the law Nitimur in vetitum semper cupimúsque negatum This the Apostle confirmeth often especially Rom. 7.8 Sinne taking occasion wrought in me all manner of concupiscence The third part of times division is in the dayes of grace under Christ and now not so much death not so much sinne as righteousnes and life do reigne or rather we in them by Christ and the power of both the other is diminished and shall be wholly demolished If Adam hurt all mankinde one way or other Christ hath helped all mankinde many wayes In this life he giveth many blessings unto the reprobate his sunne shineth on all his rain falleth both upon good and bad and I do not think that there ever was the man at least within the verge of the Church but had at some time or other such a portion of Gods favour and such sweet inspirations put into his heart that if he had not quenched by his naturall frowardnes the holy motions of the Spirit God would have added more grace even enough to have brought him to salvation For God is rich in mercy Ephes 2.4 The Father of mercies 2. Corinth 1.3 Thou lovest all things that are and abhorrest nothing that thou hast made for never wouldest thou have made any thing if thou hadst hated it Wisd 11.24 What thou dost abhorre or hate thou dost wish not to be what thou dost make thou dost desire it should be saith Holcot on the place In our Common-prayer-book toward the end of the Commination this is the acknowledgement of our Church O mercifull God which hast compassion of all men and hatest nothing that thou hast made which wouldest not the death of a sinner but that he should rather turn from sinne and be saved c. God is intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Amator animarum A lover of souls Wisd 11.26 Holcot on the place confirmeth it by Ezek. 18.4 All souls are mine saith God Men commonly love the bodies saith Holcot but God the souls b Amat Deus animas non singulariter sic quòd non corpora amet sed privilegialiter quia eas ad se in perpetuum fruendum praeparavit God loveth the souls not onely as if he did not love the bodies but principally because he hath fitted them for the eternall fruition of himself It is not the best applied distinction for whose soever souls shall enjoy God their bodies also shall and that immortally for ever If he had said that God had loved humane souls privilegialiter because man had nothing to do in their creation or preservation he had spoken more to the purpose Nor think I that God forsaketh any but such as forsake him but Froward thoughts separate from God Wisd 1.3 c. For into a malicious soul wisdome shall not enter nor dwell in the body that is subject unto sinne For the holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit and remove from thoughts that are without understanding Concerning the souls of infants dying without the ordinary antidotes to originall sinne baptisme and the pale of the Church though they may most justly be condemned yet who knoweth how easy their punishment may be at least comparatively as some imagine For that some drops of mercy may extraordinarily distill upon them they cannot deny who say That the rebellious spirits of actually sinfull men and Angels are punished citra condignum But to leave these speculations I dare boldly affirm that if there be any mitigation of torments in any of them it is not without reference to Christ Moreover the redeeming of man was of more power then the very creation for this was performed by a calm Fiat but the redemption was accomplished by the agony passion and death of the Sonne of God c Aug. in Joan. Tractatu 72. post medium Augustine on those words John 14.12 Greater works then these shall he do saith thus It is a greater work to make a wicked man just then to create heaven and earth Therefore much more doth Christs merit surmount the fault of Adam In the first Adam we onely had posse non peccare posse non mori A possibility of not sinning a possibility of not dying We should have been changed though we had not died posse bonum non deserere A possibility of not forsaking goodnesse and should by his integrity and our endeavours have attained at the utmost but bene agere beatificari To do well and be blessed By Christ we have not onely remission of sinnes and his righteousnes imputed but rich grace abundance of joy and royall gifts Not a more joyfull but a more powerfull grace saith d Non laetiorem sed potentiorem gratiam Aug. de Correp Gratia cap. 11. Augustine and we shall have non posse peccare non posse